


Love You Best

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Half-Sibling Incest, M/M, Manipulative Relationship, Medievalstuck, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:09:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2847212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A loyal knight and a regal prince, where brotherly love means something a little more behind closed doors.  [For Stridercest Secret Santa exchange.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love You Best

**Author's Note:**

> Stridercest Secret Santa gift for [strideer](http://strideer.tumblr.com/)! I hope you enjoy it and happy holidays~

The kestrel fluttered to the window ledge and stuck out her leg, giving Dirk a long and hard look. The bird was clearly trying to convey that it was long past her bedtime, and she hoped that this message was important.

“Sorry, Terezi,” Dirk said as he took the message from the tube.

In consolation he gave her head a light scratch and handed her a piece of roasted meat from his dinner. Terezi eyed it with askance - meat is supposed to be pink and bloody! - but eventually gulped it down.

Dirk unrolled the message while stroking Terezi’s feathers with a finger. She made soft, sleepy noises.

_West gate probably about an hour after you get this message. Give Terezi some food and put her to bed in the aviary. Seriously if you don’t treat my bird right you’re getting a punch in the face_ \- the message read.

Dirk smirked and folded the message back up, sticking it in his pocket. Typical brotherly love.

“C’mon Terezi, let’s get you to bed.”

Terezi ruffled up her feathers and shook her wings out as if to say ‘finally!’

 

Once Dirk got the kestrel fed and tucked in for the night, he headed down an empty, echoing hall towards the west gate. The torches flickering on the wall were guttering, which meant it was just about past midnight at this point. A servant would soon be coming along to replace them, so he needed to make himself scarce before that happened. He didn’t need people questioning why the prince was sneaking around so late at night.

Terezi’s distant cry had alerted him to her presence as he had been getting ready for bed. He’d immediately thrown his clothes back on and headed up to the tower to greet her. Dave always sent his kestrel on ahead before he returned home, at least when he was arriving in the middle of the night. Because that’s when Dirk knew the visit was just for him.

Dirk leaned against the wall in the deep shadow of the gate, drawing his cloak around him to ward off the winter cold. His breath steamed in a cloud in front of his face, and the moon glinted off the snow around the castle.

The quiet crunch and squeak of horse hooves on the snow made him look up. His brother was a dark silhouette with most of the moonlight behind him. Dirk stayed silent. Dave would know he was there regardless. He was always there waiting for him.

“You’re up late, little brother,” Dave commented quietly once the crunch changed to a clop as the horse passed under the gate.

“How else would I welcome you home, brother dearest,” Dirk murmured with a smirk.

Dave dismounted and immediately leaned close.

Dirk pushed him away in with a hand on the breastplate of his armor.

“Gods, no,” he said, recoiling. “You reek of horse and sweat.”

“Love you too.”

“Put your exhausted horse away, I’ll have a bath drawn. You’re on a roll tonight of overworking animals that aren’t nocturnal by nature.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Dirk didn't really care about how Dave smelled but it would be embarrassing to act so desperate. He'd done that enough when he was younger.

The first time he'd realized he loved Dave as something more than a brother he'd still been baby-faced and a little pudgy. Dave was already all gangly limbs and jutting bones that came with a body that was growing faster than his eating habits could keep up with.

Dave was a page, due to be a squire at the end of the season. He spent most of his time outdoors in the training fields. Learning to hunt and ride and fight and how to serve the knight that he would be assigned to once he became a squire. The sun brought countless freckles out on to his face and sucked the color from his golden hair until it was almost white.

Dirk was trapped inside the castle walls, learning letters and figures and the names of dozens of dignitaries he was certain he'd never remember. Everything he needed to know as the future king.

"It's not fair," he whined to his nursemaid one day. "Dave is older, why isn't he going to be the king instead?"

The nursemaid looked around to make sure no one was around to listen before crouching down to his diminutive stature.

"Little one, it's because of something everyone knows, but no one talks about," she said solemnly.

Dirk realized he was about to be told a Grown Up thing, and that he would need to be responsible with the information.  

"And what is that?" he asked, meeting her gaze.

"The queen is your mother, but not Dave's," she explained. "His mother was a serving girl that the king took a liking to."

Dirk's face crumpled a little. "So Dave isn't my brother?" he asked in a sad, hollow voice.

"Oh, of course he is!" the nursemaid assured him, pulling him into her arms. "The king is your father and his too. That makes you brothers. But because he isn't fully royal, he can't be king like you can."

He'd sighed as he stared at the piles of books that he was meant to be studying. "Very well," he murmured, and went back to work.

It wasn't long after that incident when he’d decided he was in love with Dave. In their large shared nursery room which Dave would soon be vacating, he climbed into his brother’s bed as they were settling in for the night.

“Aren’t you getting too old to be scared of ghouls and goblins under your bed?” Dave teased.

“I’m not scared of anything,” Dirk said firmly before capturing Dave’s face in his hands and kissing him hard.

Dave pushed him away, his eyes narrowed.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

Dirk shrugged. “Everyone says that you’re supposed to kiss the people you love.”

If Dirk ever acted his age, the excuse might have been sufficient.

“Different kind of love, and you know that, horse-shit-for-brains. Besides, we’re both boys, and we’re brothers. We’re not supposed to do things like that.”

Dirk forced himself not to scowl as he hopped off Dave’s bed.

“If everyone did what they were supposed to, you wouldn’t exist,” he muttered.

“ _What_ did you just say.”

Dirk turned on his heel and met Dave’s gaze evenly. “You heard me. And because of that I’m going to be king someday, and you’ll just be a knight who has to kneel at my feet and swear fealty. I figured you might want some practice beforehand.”

“Get out of my room, you sack of shit.”

“It’s my room too and you’re not _supposed_ to use language like that.”

Dirk realized that Dave was actually angry. True anger like Dirk hadn’t ever seen before from his brother. He backed up a few steps.

“I just wanted to kiss you,” he said softly. “Because I love you best. Promise.”

He kept his eyes wide and even let his lower lip wobble a little to enhance the effect.

Dave sighed and deflated, looking less angry and more just hollow.

“Some rules are less easily broken than others,” he said in a cold voice, looking away. “As future king you should learn your boundaries quick, else you’ll get an arrow in your back.”

Dirk crawled into his own bed and pulled the blankets up to his chin. “You would never let that happen.”

Dave was silent in response.

Dirk curled up and thought of ways to sway his brother towards breaking the unbreakable kind of rules.

The best way, he decided, was to taunt him. Like a plate of sweets kept just out of reach. He stopped touching him entirely. He shied away from friendly claps on his shoulder or good-natured hair ruffling. It didn’t take long for Dave to start watching him with suspicion. Dirk kept his gaze directed downward, never meeting his eyes. He went to bed early and got up before Dave did, avoiding as much interaction with him as possible.

After three weeks of this Dirk woke to Dave shaking his shoulder.

“What d’you want?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He tried to swat his brother’s hand away, but Dave caught his arm.

“What do you think you’re trying to pull?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He squirmed, attempting to pry his arm free, but Dave just pinned him down more with his whole body over him. Dirk’s breath hitched.

“Is this what you wanted? Me to force myself on you like this?”

Dirk smiled. “Is it really forcing me when I drove you to it?”

“Why are you so insufferable?”

“Because I’m your brother. Are you going to kiss me or not?”

“What if I don’t want to kiss you?”

“Of course you want to kiss me. It’s not allowed and everyone wants the things they’re not meant to have.”

“Is that why you want me?” Dave demanded.

Dirk shook his head. “I want you because I want you. You’re my brother, and I love you best. In every way. Now kiss me.”

Dave sighed and gave in. If Dirk was going to be truthful, it was admittedly a little more enjoyable in the knowledge that it was forbidden, like stealing a sweet from the kitchen.

Like striking a match, Dave’s indulgence completely reversed Dirk’s behavior. Now he wouldn’t leave him alone, even going to visit him when he trained. The knights all found the little prince adorable, offering him short lessons in swordfighting and the other arts.

“I want to be just like my big brother!” Dirk would say in the most innocent of tones. “Because he’s the best and I love him!”

Simply _darling_. Dave would turn red and cough into his hand.

 

Alone in their bedroom at night, Dave would scold him.

“You’re playing everyone into eating out of your hand.”

Scolding often meant a little less when it came from someone who was holding you in their arms.

“Isn’t that what diplomacy is about?” Dirk asked, faking a yawn as he snuggled against Dave’s side.

“You’re going to be an _awful_ king.”

“I’ll have you to reign me in.”

“Like you’d listen to me,” Dave accused.

“If you say it right I’ll listen.”

“And how is that, then?”

Dirk leaned close to whisper in Dave’s ear. “Say it to me when we’re in bed.”

His tone made sure Dave knew he didn’t mean anything as innocent as what they were currently doing. Leaning so close, he could feel the heat of his brother’s blush on his skin.

The season turned and Dirk became even more possessive of Dave’s time and attention. Once he became a squire he’d be chosen by a knight and leave the castle to travel and train, for months at a time.

If Dirk had the power to slow down time, he would have stretched those precious weeks for as long as he could. But time is an unstoppable force and soon the eve of the ceremony where Dave would move from page to squire was upon them.

“I don’t want you to go,” Dirk whispered, pressing his face against Dave’s neck.

Dave was silent as he stroked Dirk’s back consolingly. Dirk closed his eyes tighter and pretended that he wasn’t aware that Dave didn’t feel the same way. He was oppressive and demanding and Dave wanted to get away from him. But at least for right now he was here with him and not pushing him away. He could pretend that was enough.

The next day he kept his face impassive as the ceremony progressed, giving no indication that he’d spent the night crying into his brother’s shoulder. As he bid Dave farewell, the knight that had chosen him for a squire lightly clapped him on the shoulder. Dirk looked up.

“Don’t you worry, lad. I know you just about worship your brother. I’ll keep him safe and sound,” he promised.

“Thank you, sir,” Dirk murmured.

“Now go on and give him a hug, no need to be so formal. You’re not the king yet, laddie.”

The hug was awkward and stiff. Dave’s discomfort with Dirk’s display of affection in front of so many people was obvious. And Dirk was desperately attempt to restrain himself from holding Dave tight and never letting go. But it seemed to satisfy the people who thought their relationship was something very different than what it was behind closed doors.

It was two years before he saw Dave again.

Dirk had grown out of his childish softness, gaining over a foot in height but without the same awkward proportions Dave had displayed. Dirk had the delicate, pixie-like facial features of his mother. With long, tapered fingers and slanted eyes, he looked like something almost otherworldly. Especially when the shape was paired with their unusual orange hue. He carried himself with regal bearing as if he was due to inherit the throne any day instead of years in the future.

When Dave returned he didn’t even visibly react, although everything inside of him ached to run to him. He kept his face still and impassive as he greeted him in a formal manner. He could see Dave searching his face for some flicker of emotion and he was secretly gratified that he would find none. Dirk was the complete master of everything about himself, no one would read him unless he wanted them to.

He knew that Dave would seek him out and demand explanation.

Which he did. In an empty corridor late at night.

“You look hollow and empty, like a puppet,” he accused.

Dirk kept up his serene mask. “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know, something! Anything!”

“Do you want me to weep and fall at your feet and beg you to never leave my side again?”

Dave groaned and ran a hand through his hair irritably. “I guess I was just expecting you to be the same person you were when I left.”

“Do you want me to be?”

The look Dave cast Dirk was haggard and haunted. Dirk knew that no matter how trapped Dave had felt by his presence, it was nothing compared to the burden of knowing that part of him wanted Dirk like that.

Dirk took Dave’s hands and pulled him close. “Kiss me,” he whispered.

“I shouldn’t.”

“But you will.”

Now here on this dark night, as Dirk waited in the hot bath for Dave to return from seeing to his horse, he knew he didn’t have to ask for kisses, or anything else. His brother, the wandering knight, would return to the castle at ungodly hours just for him. And Dirk was confident that when he was king, Dave would swear to be his personal guard just to stay close to him.

Finally the door swung open and Dave entered, looking smaller and much more vulnerable without his armor.

“I thought the bath was for me,” Dave commented.

“I figured you would not mind the company.”

“You’re still insufferable.”

Dirk chuckled and Dave began to undress, tossing his travel-worn clothes to the floor and climbing into the tub.

“This is hardly big enough for both of us,” he complained.

Dirk pulled Dave close by his hips. “It is if we’re creative.”

“Now may I have that kiss?”

Dirk didn’t bother answering, because Dave knew the answer was yes. Soon his brother pressed their lips together. Dirk sighed softly and slid his hands up Dave’s back, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.

After several banged knees and scraped elbows and a fair amount of cursing, they gave up taking their tryst any further in their current location. Dave submitted himself to a rather thorough scrubbing with the herbal soap before they migrated to Dirk’s bedchamber.

Still damp, they tumbled into bed together with hands and mouths already wandering over each other’s bodies.

“How long will you be staying?” Dirk asked as Dave kissed down his stomach.

“A few days, maybe,” Dave answered, looking up at him.

Dirk reached down to lace his fingers through Dave’s hair. “Make them count.”

Dave grinned. “Have I ever disappointed you?”

“ _Well_ …”

Dave scowled and bit his hip, causing Dirk to gasp softly. “You’re a little shit.”

“But you love me.”

“How could I not?”

Their conversation trailed off into quiet moans and heated gasps and quiet whispers of the other’s name. They lay together afterward, panting faintly with the bedclothes twisted around them.

“I love you too, you know,” Dirk murmured, pillowing his head on Dave’s shoulder. “I’ve always loved you best.”

“Of course I know.”

“Good.”

****  
  



End file.
